The Great Gatsby Will Open This Year's Cannes Film Festival

When Warner Bros. delayed the opening of Baz Luhrmann’s The Great Gatsby from December 2012 to the following summer – taking it out of the Oscar race in the process – many wondered if the film wouldn’t have awards aspirations, choosing instead to be a colorful diversion amidst the empty blockbusters of the digital-effects season. But news that Luhrmann’s Gatsby will open Cannes probably means pundits will cautiously slide the film back onto Oscar’s radar … at least until the first press screenings of the anticipated film.

The Cannes Film Festival has revealed that the 3D Gatsby will launch this year’s fest on May 15, filling a splashy Hollywood slot that, in recent years, has been occupied by the likes of Woody Allen’s Midnight in Paris, Sir Ridley Scott’s Robin Hood and Pixar’s animated Up. The movie will screen out of competition, but will benefit from the amount of press shed on the festival’s opening night selection. It’s also the second film to screen in 3D at he festival … the first being Pete Docter’s Up back in 2009.

Here’s the odd part: Gatsby is set to open in the States on May 10, going day-and-date in France with the May 15 screening in Cannes. In years past, Cannes has turned down films that have opened elsewhere already, so the fest’s relationship with Luhrmann must have helped solidify Gatsby as the choice to open this year’s Cannes activities.

Steven Spielberg already has been chosen as head of this year’s Cannes Film Festival jury. The fest will run through May 26.